Lewis Hamilton makes big ‘adjustment’ for British Grand Prix after Wolff remark

F1: A lap of the British Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton has promised to make a major adjustment for this weekend’s British Grand Prix after Toto Wolff’s stern warning in Austria. The Mercedes star was called out by Wolff after firing off a series of complaints in Spielberg.

Hamilton lost his temper after he was slapped with a five-second time penalty, prompting the champion to demand other drivers were also punished. He also raised criticism about his Mercedes W14 machine as the squad dropped beyond Ferrari and McLaren in the pecking order.

Wolff eventually took matters away from race engineer Peter Bonnington in a bid to calm down his driver. Wolff said: “Lewis, the car is bad, we know. Please drive it.”

However, Hamilton said he would adjust his team radio comments for this weekend’s race after conducting an investigation ahead of Silverstone.

READ MORE Lewis Hamilton’s contract ‘can’t be signed off’ as board meetings planned

Hamilton said: “The best thing about our partnership is that we are direct with each other. Toto is an out-and-out racer who was just trying to encourage me. That was his way of doing it. I have reviewed my comments, and where I was at mentally. I will adjust that in the future.”

After the race, Wolff revealed that speaking to Hamilton was for the “best interest of the drivers and the team”. He added that he only got involved to calm down the star who was getting flustered behind the wheel.

Wolff was also confident that telling off Hamilton would have no repercussions for a possible future partnership. It comes as the two sides are still embroiled in contract negotiations with an agreement yet to be formally signed.

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He explained: “It was only about the interests of the team. Sometimes there are moments when you have to calm things down but I did it with the best intention. You should hear how we talk to each other on the phone. This was nothing at all.

“Of course, it doesn’t help if you get penalties, but the car was simply slow and it wouldn’t have changed much.” It is understood talks have stalled regarding the terms of a future ambassadorial deal with the German marque.

Damon Hill suggested this could not be signed off by Toto Wolff with Mercedes chiefs set for a board meeting in Germany to finalise the agreement.

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